The Cuban Revolution Today: Proposals of Changes, Scenarios, and Alternatives 39
ton, G. W. Bush, and Obama for recognizing the island’s government
and lifting the blockade have been the establishment of a Western-
style democracy in Cuba and respect for human rights.
In the 1990s the United States passed two extraterritorial laws to
reinforce the blockade in the aftermath of the crumbling of the East-
ern Bloc: the Torricelli Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of1996.^24 Neither of these laws achieved its purpose of isolating Cuba,
although both damaged the country in some respects, such as increas-
ing the prices of imported goods. In 2009 only the United States,
Israel, and Palau voted in the UN General Assembly against lifting the
embargo, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.
In 1996 the European Union, adopted a policy called the “Com-
mon Position” and associated with the presidency of José María Aznar
in Spain whereby European policy toward Cuba was subordinated to
the hostile U.S. policy toward Cuba. The development of the relations
with Cuba was conditioned to the Eurocentric vision of democracy
and human rights. Although the socialist government of President
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has taken some steps to improve rela-
tions with Cuba, the Common Position still prevails. This results in
the case of the United States in a double standard, since these govern-
ments do not mention the serious violations of human rights in other
countries and are in no position to establish moral standards after
Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo and the passage of planes carrying pris-
oners arrested through illegal procedures through the airports of
European countries such as Spain. While the Cuban Five are in jail for
trying to deter terrorism against Cuba, Luis Posada Carriles, a well-
known terrorist, is living peacefully in Miami.
Cuban relations with Venezuela and the member countries of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), its growing relations
24. The aim of the Torricelli Act was to prohibit trade with Cuba by subsidiary compa-
nies in third countries and access to U.S. ports of ships transporting goods to the Island.
The Helms-Burton Act sought to deprive Cuba of external financing and prevent
foreign investment in the island through sanctions on businessmen of third countries
who made investments in Cuba and the United States.